Gold Star Award Earned by Our College & Career Counselors

The Indiana Department of Education has Crown Point High
School as one of the Indiana schools to receive the Indiana Gold Star School
Counseling Award in 2014. Gold Star schools undergo a rigorous process to raise
student achievement by creating local community advisory groups that review
student data, set specific student goals, and commit to maximizing the time and
skills of the school counselor. The official award presentation will be at the
Indiana School Counselor Association (ISCA) fall conference in Indianapolis in
November 2014.

“Indiana’s Gold Star Schools collaborate
with community partners to assist the school counselor(s) in making data-based
decisions to ensure that all students are successful,” says IDOE School
Counselor Consultant Amanda Culhan. “We recognize Crown Point High School for
understanding the tremendous impact that school counselors can have in helping
students succeed in school and also to plan for postsecondary success.”

Crown Point High School joins over 200
Indiana elementary, middle and high schools that have received the Gold Star
Award since its inception in 1997. Six years later, IDOE, in collaboration with
the Indiana Student Achievement Institute, began offering professional
development opportunities for schools interested in aligning their counseling
program with the Gold Star model. Schools participate in a one-day workshop,
followed by a series of monthly webcasts, to help them make the transformation
to the Indiana Gold Star School Counseling model.

All Indiana Gold Star schools are eligible
to receive the nation’s highest recognition - the American School Counselor
Association’s Recognized ASCA Model Program or RAMP Award. The award
demonstrates that a school is “committed to delivering a comprehensive,
data-driven school counseling program.” Indiana is the state with the highest
number of RAMP Award recipients in the country.

To
qualify for both awards, Crown Point High School submitted an online portfolio
with documentation that it meets the nine program standards found in Indiana’s
Program Standards for School Counseling.

Additionally, members participated in
training sessions and learned how to implement the Gold Star School Counseling
model. Students, teachers, parents and community members who serve on the local
School Counseling Advisory Council also took part in the initiative. This group
provided valuable input and feedback as the Gold Star School Counseling
initiative was being developed. Members of the Advisory Council include; Jessica
Barclay, Sean Begley, Macayla Borys, Chrisanne Christ, Vonda Daniels, Dave
Eineman, Miller Elwood, Alisa Goodman, Brenda Harvey, Johanna Hess, Jordan
Jones, Ami Marcinek, Fiona McCarroll, Robert McDermott, Susan Mender and Kim
Swan. “The school counselors and others at Crown Point High School have worked
hard to ensure that students have an accountable school counseling program that
meets their academic, career and citizenship development needs,” Sue Reynolds,
Executive Director of the Indiana Student Achievement Institute said. “These
educators and community members are truly dedicated to the community’s young
people and are going the ‘extra mile’ to help students succeed.”

Administrative Service Center 200 East North Street
Crown Point, IN 46307